


something inside of me

by aelisheva



Category: Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22640245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelisheva/pseuds/aelisheva
Summary: He shook his head and lowered the book. "I'm not seeing anything about magically frozen hands in here, love."I looked down, forcing myself to ignore that adorable term of endearment. "How about frozen arms?" The ice was now spreading up to my elbows.________Irina and Mirnatius talk about the magic running through both of their family lines, as well as their future.
Relationships: Irina/Mirnatius (Spinning Silver)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	something inside of me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taywen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taywen/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day, Taywen! Hope you enjoy, this treat was so fun to write.

I pounded loudly on my husband's chamber door three times that night, though it was well past midnight. It hurt my hands all the way through my heavy fur gloves. "Open the door!"

Mirnatius creaked open the door with heavy eyes, which quickly jolted awake once I took off the gloves. "How long has that been there??"

I looked down at the thin layer of snow covering my hands. "Since an hour or so ago. I had a dream that I walked through the mirror again, but got stuck inside for a hundred years, and when I woke up --"

He grabbed one of my hands and tried to inspect it for damage. "This could be a Staryk curse."

"Husband, I'm part Staryk. Why would they curse one of their own?"

"I don't know, I -- this just looks like something out of an old curse."

"How would you know anything about old curses?" I asked slowly. Even though it was common knowledge that his mother was a horrible witch, I still didn't want to offend him or his family.

"My mother left behind a couple old books on magic before she died," he said, gesturing for me to come into the room. Mirnatius bent down under his bed and pulled out a small wooden chest. Inside the chest was a small cluster of leather-bound books. (Every time I tried to look at them for too long, my eyes started to burn. Mirnatius flipped through a blue one with complete ease, though.)

He shook his head and lowered the book. "I'm not seeing anything about magically frozen hands in here, love."

I looked down, forcing myself to ignore that adorable term of endearment. "How about frozen arms?" The ice was now spreading up to my elbows.

"No no no no, get over here." He grabbed my hand, sat me down on the edge of his bed, and wrapped me in some fur blankets. "That should help a little bit." He sat next to me on the mattress.

I shook my head. "I don't think magic works that way."

"Then what do you think?" he asked, completely sincere.

"I think...I think it's Staryk magic. That I inherited from that ancestor of mine."

"Oh." He looked around a little. "Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm not ashamed of it, I'm just -- I want it to go away. To control it."

"I completely understand," he said wryly. He looked down at my arms again, which I had wriggled free from the fur because it had made them too hot. "Can I see your arms again?"

I nodded.

He took both of my hands in his, barely flinching at the cold. He took in a deep breath and...started to hum? The song was in a minor key, but there was nothing ominous or scary about it. There were no words, but it still felt like the song was saying, _I know it hurts. I know it does. But there's still time to fix that._

"What are the words to that?" I muttered.

He paused. "No words, just music. That's how the healing spell works." He shook his head. "At least the way my dear departed mother always did it...She was a horrid bitch who sold me out while I was still in the womb, but at least she had the decency to heal me whenever I got all scraped up."

"Mm." I stopped stiffening under his grip.

"Other than this, there aren't that many song spells written with no words. Then again, this one is a low-power one that's very easy to reverse, so..."

Both of us froze. Mostly because, like an absolute idiot, I had stopped trying to hide the fact that I was very much staring at his mouth.

He pushed a little away from me. "I'm sorry, I can't --"

"I'm so so sorry, if that made you uncomfortable at all, I --"

"Hold on." He came back a little, now staring into my eyes. "No fogging up, no changing a different color --" He gave a deep sigh. "Thank God I didn't accidentally give you a love spell, too."

"What?"

"The way you wanted to kiss me, I just thought --" He shook his head. "I don't use my mother's spells very often because they make me feel _wrong_ inside. True, my mother never put any kind of love spell on the king, but -- what she did with her magic was hardly ever _good."_

I nodded. "I understand. But I feel the exact same as usual, aside from my arms. Nothing changed inside my head. I just wanted to kiss you. Again."

We'd kissed before, of course. Mostly in public, to prove to our people that we weren't trying to murder each other behind closed doors. In fact, behind closed doors we were often "practicing" our next staging.

Mirnatius gave a small smile. "Oh. Um. Well, at least I'm not the glamoured witch's son dragging you into the fires of hell with a kiss."

I snorted. "Very poetic."

"If anything, you're the snow spirit who put a magic flurry in my eyes that devotes myself to you forever."

"Very --" I looked up at the ceiling. "You know the Staryk can't do any of those things. I can't."

"I know." I looked back to him. "But sometimes it feels like it." 

The snow at my elbows was beginning to shrink back down towards my wrists, towards my fingertips.

I closed the gap between the two of us and kissed him. He kissed me back, moving to cradle my head with his hands like it was made of dainty and very fragile ice.

When we (finally) broke apart, all he could do was stare at me with wide eyes. "...Was that real?"

"Well...I wouldn't do anything like that in one of our public demonstrations, if that's what you mean." I grinned.

He grinned back. "I wouldn't do anything like this there, either." He leaned back in for another kiss and....was he using tongue?

It was going to be a _very_ long night.


End file.
